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Today's Opinions

Buckwheat’s, a new place in town just opened.
I was close to ecstatic when I realized the second word, (in much smaller print), after “Buckwheat’s,” was “BBQ.”
One of my all-time favorite things to do in this lifetime was to get up early and meet my good friend Joe Faggione for a hearty breakfast of buckwheat pancakes.
Now I search far and wide and cannot find a restaurant that serves those delicious, dark buckwheats.

From a teacher’s point of view, a child’s academic mistakes are worth their weight in gold. I really, really wish they wouldn’t be punished. Corrected, yes; punished, no. If a child is punished for making mistakes on a sheet of paper, either through bad grades, scolding or just simple disapproval (and coming from a respected adult, there is nothing simple about that disapproval), the child is going to go to great lengths to avoid punishment. It is human nature.

As my wife, Judy, waved to me through our office window from the backyard and flashed that beautiful smile of hers toward me, it warmed my heart.
This wonderful woman, wife and mother spends most of her day performing tasks around the house and yard to please me.
She is what most of us would call an “old-fashioned housewife” — she’s very clean, fussy, and makes other women feel uncomfortable whenever they visit us.

“Hon, come quick! Look at the bluebird on the fence,” Judy called out to me hurriedly.
I didn’t waste any time in rushing to the large kitchen window where she pointed to a proud, male bluebird sitting atop our fence in a dignified manner.
His body was of that lush, deep blue, only a male Eastern bluebird possesses. His breast was prominent, displaying a magnificent shade of fiery orange.
He allowed us to admire him for an instant before he flew away into the azure sky.

“Tra-la-la, tweedlee dee dee, it gives me a thrill to wake up in the morning to the mockin’ bird’s trill.”
I’ll bet many of you remember those unforgettable song
lyrics.
For those of you too young to remember this great singing lady from long ago, those are just some of the words from one of her most famous songs, “Mockin’ Bird Hill.”

Usually in February my thoughts begin to wander toward the joys of the upcoming spring.
School curriculums should be doing the same thing, but are not, becoming bogged down over increasing testing concerns. This sterility of the school atmosphere is a shame, because spring offers unprecedented opportunities for a real, diversified and hands-on education for all children.
They should be planting and tending to gardens instead of being stuck in testing centers.